Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orleans

Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orleans (13 April 1747-6 November 1793) was the Duke of Orleans under the Kingdom of France and the cousin of King Louis XVI of France. Despite his status as a member of the French nobility, he led the liberal Orleanists in politics, and he sided with the French Revolution, assuming the name Philippe Egalite. He voted in favor of the execution of his brother in January 1793, but he was guillotined during the Reign of Terror due to his status as a nobleman.

Biography
Louis Philippe was born in Saint-Cloud, France on 13 April 1747, the son of Louis Philippe I, Duke of Orleans and Louise Henriette de Bourbon, both members of different branches of the House of Bourbon. From his birth until 1785, he was Duke of Chartres, and he became Duke of Orleans on the death of his father. The duke was known for his womanizing and for his anti-royalist views, and he became a major liberal politician in the Kingdom of France, advocating the adoption of a constitution. He became the first member of the House of Bourbon to choose to hold a command in the French Navy instead of the French Army, and he fought at the First Battle of Ushant in 1778 during the American Revolutionary War.

During the French Revolution, the Duke of Orleans became a member of the Jacobin Club, leading the liberal minority of the Second Estate in the Estates-General. He was accused of withholding grain from the people of Paris in 1789, triggering the Women's March on Versailles, and he led a bloodthirsty mob up the stairs of the palace to the Queen's bedroom, with the mob members referring to Orleans as their king. In 1790, he entered the National Assembly, and he was acquitted of any wrongdoing at the time of the food shortages. In 1792, he failed to mend his poor relations with the king, so he changed his name to "Citoyen Philippe Egalite" to display his belief in democratic principles. However, he saved many people during the Reign of Terror, causing him to fall out with the republican government. On 5 April 1793, after the defection of the Duke of Chartres and Charles-Francois Dumouriez, the French First Republic had Louis Philippe II and all remaining Bourbons in France arrested, and he was tried and guillotined on the same day, 6 November.